Japanese Grand Prix FIA Thursday press conference transcript with
Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
Takuma Sato (Super Aguri)
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota)
Sakon Yamamoto (Spyker)
Q: A question for you all, first of all. Have you raced here at Fuji
before? What have been your initial feelings seeing the circuit? And
what preparations have you made before coming to this new circuit?
Ralf Schumacher: I've kind of been here before. I actually lived
not so far away from here. What they have done with the pits is great.
The place has changed a bit. The track itself... OK, the last few
chicanes have really changed and a few bits on the outside, but yeah,
they've done a good job.
Q: What sort of preparations have you personally made for this circuit?
Have you looked at it on Playstation or anything?
Ralf Schumacher: No, no. I was here last year for the 50th anniversary of Toyota, so
I had the chance to see the track then and even before as well, at the
beginning of the year. We did some filming, so I knew the circuit.
Q: So your feelings about it, particularly that last sector?
Ralf Schumacher: The last sector is very tiny but it's quite good to be able to
follow cars, so I guess we will see a lot of overtaking down the main
straight.
Q: Rubens, your feelings. You have raced here before, haven't you?
Rubens Barrichello: Yeah, a long time ago, though: '91 and it was
the other layout. I haven't prepared much. I have walked the circuit
now, it's an easy circuit to learn and now we have to see what the car
can do.
Q: Any specific preparations?
Rubens Barrichello: No, I've checked some GT laps on YouTube, that's all.
Q: But it doesn't take long to learn, does it?
Rubens Barrichello: No, I think it's going to be straightforward. There are a couple of
corners that are quite interesting. I think turn four is quite a long
one, to get a proper line and so on. I think a lot of people will be
trying different lines but I guess it's the same for everyone.
Q: Sakon, your feelings; obviously you've raced here before.
Sakon Yamamoto: Yes, I'm very happy to come back for the Japanese
Grand Prix again, as last year. Here it's the first time for the other
drivers, but for me, I have driven here in GT, so I know it quite well,
so I get to have some advantage.
Q: So no preparations needed; what's the fastest car you've driven
around here?
Sakon Yamamoto: Formula Nippon.
Q: Takuma.
Takuma Sato: Actually, I've only raced here once but I was on a
bike, a push-bike, so there's a little bit of a speed difference and
nothing on motor racing but Fuji is obviously very close to where I
live, it's virtually an hour away from Tokyo here, so I feel very close
and very relaxed. I never raced here in a car, but this morning I just
walked around the circuit and I'm quite impressed with the elevation
changes, which I really didn't see on my preparations before coming
here. I only had the circuit drawing and a little bit of footage from
Formula Nippon racing when Sakon was racing, I think. So it was good
to see it and there seemed to be good opportunities to overtake, very
exciting racing, so I'm quite looking forward to driving tomorrow.
Q: Rubens, Honda used to make a Suzuka special for the Japanese Grand
Prix, have they made a Fuji special?
Rubens Barrichello: Well, it's the second race for the engine, so of course there's
nothing on that side. We are trying some different aero configurations
for here. Some of them worked in Jerez, some of them were no use, so
we have something to try here. I don't think we're going to solve the
problems with anything special. This year, whenever the car adapted well
to the track we seemed to go better; if not, we were at the back of the
pack, so hopefully this track will bring us some smiles.
Q: Do you feel there's extra impetus behind the team for here?
Rubens Barrichello: It's the home race, we definitely want to do very well but apart
from that, we know that the car isn't very good and the year hasn't gone
very well, so we just have to put the best effort to try and compensate
for that, but if it is anything, it's a single point more than anything
else, unless the weather can play a different part and then you have
safety cars and you never know.
Q: Are you expecting that?
Rubens Barrichello: Coming here we talked to someone who said he'd never seen a race
here when it wasn't wet for one part of the weekend with fog and so on.
Back in '91, it was very foggy and one of the days was wet as well. I
think it's something that we can expect, yes.
Q: Nurburgring weather, is that what we're expecting, Ralf?
Ralf Schumacher: Nurburgring weather? I hope not, it's cold there now. There is some
rain expected tomorrow but at this time of year it can be nice and
sweet, so let's hope that's going to be the case.
Q: There seem to be quite a few modifications to the Toyotas here?
Ralf Schumacher: Well, like any other team we had some tests at Jerez with new bits
and pieces on the car because this is a very specific track with a very
long straight obviously. I don't know (if we have) any more than other
teams brought to this race.
Q: Is there an announcement close about 2008?
Ralf Schumacher: No, still nice and sweet but I can't tell you at the moment.
Q: Sakon, with Adrian doing a lot of racing here, you're probably the
most experienced pair of drivers at this circuit; does that count for
anything?
Sakon Yamamoto: I think that means for our engineers that we can give them data
for the characteristics of this circuit and certain corners but, as
a driver, I think the drivers who come here for Formula One, all of
them are very good at getting to know new circuits, so I don't think I
have a really big advantage when it comes to that part of things. As I
mentioned, for the engineers, it is an advantage if I can give them any
information before we run here.
Q: A good performance in Belgium with the B-spec car; what was the
general feeling in the team after that race?
Sakon Yamamoto: Obviously the B-spec car worked really well at Spa, so our
motivation is very good now. Also we have more development parts for
Fuji, so we are really looking forward to driving tomorrow.
Q: Takuma, your feelings about a potential wet race?
Takuma Sato: It will be. You could say... you could argue how it's going to be
but I think, knowing Fuji and around here, already this morning we had
quite strong summer-like sunshine with the humidity and this afternoon
it was as though it was going to rain at any minute, so I think it will
be tricky, but I think everything is welcome. I think more changeable
weather conditions or anything gives a great chance even though one's in
a risky position as well. As our team is always challenging, attacking
all the time, it is very suitable for us.
Q: So you would like rain.
Takuma Sato: Very much so because looking at the test I think our performance
wasn't as strong as we wanted it to be, and coming back to Japan, we
wanted to be very competitive but somehow it's obviously very difficult
because it's such a small team. The development speed wasn't as good
as other teams, so we have to do something, tweaks, whatever we can
do and an example was the Canadian Grand Prix. Before we went to
Montreal, really nobody -- not even us -- were expecting to have such an
exciting race and why not here? I think everything is open but looking
realistically, it's going to be a very very tough race for us, so we
need something, a little change -- that always gets us into an exciting
situation.
Q: You always seem to have risen to the occasion of a Japanese Grand
Prix -- do you think you're going to restrict yourself a little this
time?
Takuma Sato: No, I always try 100%, as everybody does. In my opinion every single
Formula One Grand Prix should be very special. But for me to come back
to my home Grand Prix, we have a lot of support from the fans, is great.
There are some unpredictable situations in Japanese Grands Prix and I
always come back (home) very strong, not just for me but the team as
well. The atmosphere in the team is such a strong feeling which is going
to give us a little more extra power.
Q: To the Japanese drivers, have you ever been up to the summit of the
Fuji-yama?
Sakon Yamamoto: I've never been, no.
Takuma Sato: I have, but not as many times as Ukyo (Katayama) did.
Q: For Rubens, it's your 250th Grand Prix, which means six more and you
equal the world record of Riccardo Patrese. How proud will it make you
to become the Grand Prix driver with the most races?
Rubens Barrichello: Not as proud as being a World Champion, but it's going to mean
something, of course. The only thing is that everyone has different
numbers. If you follow the FIA records it'll only be in Barcelona next
year that I'll get to 257 (starts). People calculate the one that I
missed in Spa (1998), the one that I didn't race at Imola (1994), so
there are different numbers which is not very good as I want to know
which one is 257. But anyway, next year sometime, hopefully, I go past.
Q: A quick one for Takuma to follow up that previous question: how long
did it take you to get up to Mt Fuji?
Takuma Sato: I think that, depending on where you start it, you can almost climb
half by car. If you start the climb from the bottom, it takes six
hours or something. I think that Ukyo Katayama, my favourite Japanese
driver, he's almost jogging up to the top of the mountain before having
breakfast -- he goes up and down in three hours. I'm not quite as quick
as Ukyo-san, but I did normal climbing, and I think I was average. I was
quite small too -- I was just a little boy.
Q: Ralf, you are one of the few drivers who knows the old and the new
Fuji Speedway; how do you like the new one in terms of driving?
Ralf Schumacher: For us it's obviously something special because it's a home track
for Toyota. The track itself has a very long straight, so that's very
exciting; you could end up overtaking twice on the straight, which is
very interesting. I think the corners we have except for Turn 4 as
mentioned by Rubens are not so special, but it's a nice layout.
Q: A question for all four of you -- we have about 17-18 races now.
With more races coming, there's a chance that we might have 20 races,
maybe even more. What is the ideal number of races an F1 season should
have from three points of view: the drivers' point of view, how much
extra work it makes for the crews, and also for more exposure for F1
worldwide?
Ralf Schumacher: I think the number we have next year -- one more -- isn't too bad
considering the workload the team has and the mechanics have and all of
the travelling. I think we are more limited by that unless we extend the
season and shorten the tests. But I feel quite happy with the races we
do.
Rubens Barrichello: I agree. I think that two years ago, we were doing far too many
miles in testing, and right now I feel that it's a good combination.
If we have a couple more races, I don't think that it's such a problem
for the drivers -- it's actually better because we're going to be doing
what we like more, which is racing. So 18, 20 (races) -- it doesn't
really change much for us, depending on where the races are. It's more
challenging for the packaging and the mechanics to do more races, but
less testing is fine.
Takuma Sato: From a pure drivers' point of view I think many races are great.
More races are very good. But in terms of logistics -- mechanics,
engineers, all of the families back at home -- it's probably a bit more
difficult with more races, but as long as we keep the spring to autumn
season, extra races are more than welcome.
Sakon Yamamoto: I agree with them but I have never raced 17 races in a year, so
hopefully I'd like to be racing at the beginning of the season.
Q: A question for Ralf. I remember when you lived at Yamanakoko when you
lived in Japan, and you used to try to make a record from Yamanakoko to
Fuji Speedway. Do you remember what your record time was, and do you
have any chance to beat it? (laughter)
Ralf Schumacher: I always stick to the rules on the street, so I don't know what the
record was, honestly. I usually had to go via Gotemba but it's more than
10 years ago, so I can't remember the time, and there's no reason to try
to beat whatever I've done 11 years ago, thank you.
Q: A question for Rubens. This year, what has exactly gone wrong --
basically the wrong fundamental concept with the car, or mis-management,
or is another team draining your resources away from your team?
Rubens Barrichello: It's very difficult to know what the real reason is. The car is not
worse (than last year's car) -- basically everyone else improved, and we
didn't. The car last year was fine, and they took a different route for
this year to improve something that was OK already and they didn't pay
attention to the aerodynamics and fine-tuning of the car. To go right
to the bottom and understand why that happened, I didn't bother because
right now I'm focused on trying to help the new guys understand and make
it better.
I never thought that the 2006 car was a great, great car --
it was doing OK on the Michelin tyres and we had a good package at some
of the races, but it wasn't there to win every race. I had problems to
adapt to it, especially to the traction control. This year everything
is much better on that side -- the car is miles away -- so it's about
putting everything together with the new guys there to make it work. It
seems already that next year's car is coming along better.
-credit: fia
